No Mud, No Lotus: Ways to Metabolize Suffering

Authors

• Heesoon Bai, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Heather Williams, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Renata Cueto de Souza, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Mel Voulgaris, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Charles Scott, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Anna Rumjahn, Simon Fraser UniversityFollow
• Avraham CohenFollow
• Zuzana Vasko Dr., Simon Fraser UniversityFollow

Submission Type

General Submission

Abstract

This paper builds on the foundation of mainly Buddhist and existential contemplative philosophies a theoretical and practical framework for understanding and working with suffering as a transformational setting for human development and maturation. The authors propose that the first step in this path of transformation is radical acceptance of suffering as fundamental “truth” about human life, which could re-orient us from the usual mindset of avoidance, denial, dismissal, moralizing, or aggressive elimination of suffering. The next step in this reorientation is seeing suffering as containing valuable “nutrients” for human development and maturation, just as, analogically speaking, mud can grow lotus into exquisite blossoms. It is proposed that humanity, the quality of humane heart-mind-spirit, is the full bloom of human development. The paper goes into the details about how to work with suffering in ways that will release enzymatic elements so that we can digest and metabolize suffering. A central importance is given to meaning making in this process, showing that personal and cultural meaning making is what enables humans to transcend what is given to be experienced as reality and to create and recreate different possibilities of being for and towards humanity. It is also proposed that meaning making takes place through the dialogic interplay of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, and the best way to support this play is to immerse ourselves in the “muddy pond” of being human, while equipping ourselves with a rich repertoire of studies in philosophy, history, arts, culture, and science. Thus equipped, we can script the play with critical and creative inquiry and dialogue, imaginative theory-building, and vigorous and rigorous experimenting in our daily lives. In this paper, theory and practice meet to the extent that all theorizing is done to support the practice of transforming suffering. To this end, the paper explores, analogically, a variety of contemplative practices, culinary arts, digestive and metabolic processes: all in the service of working with and transforming suffering into flowering humanity.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Bai, Heesoon; Williams, Heather; Cueto de Souza, Renata; Voulgaris, Mel; Scott, Charles; Rumjahn, Anna; Cohen, Avraham; and Vasko, Zuzana Dr. (2026) "No Mud, No Lotus: Ways to Metabolize Suffering," Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/jche/vol4/iss1/5